Ooh, we sure do love a bit of transport talk here at Secret Londondon’t we? From buses, boats and bikes to trains, trams and tubes; we just can’t seem to get enough of those handy little things that whizz us around the city. So, the prospect of a shiny new London Overground line is pretty darn exciting, as far as we’re concerned.
The proposed extension of the London Overground would see the likes of Brent, Barnet, Hounslow, Ealing and Camden all connected by one handy train route. The West London Orbital is the name, and speedily linking various boroughs across west and north-west London would be the game. So, passengers travelling between the two areas of the capital would no longer have to do so via central London. A dream come true, right?
If plans go ahead, the West London Orbital would become the seventh branch of the London Overground and would pass through stations including Hendon, Neasdon, South Acton, and Hounslowusing tracks that already exist and serve other routes. Despite the route not requiring a great deal of building works, it would involve bringing a track that hasn’t been used for over a century back to life (the Dudding Hill line), and so a rather significant amount upgrade work would need to take place.
As I’m sure you can imagine, an extension of this scale comes with a rather hefty price-tag. Based on 2021 estimations, the project could cost between £430 million and £610 million. Yes, my jaw also dropped at the sheer size of those numbers. However, a 2017 study deemed that the would have a ‘high benefit to cost ratio‘.
Mayor of London, Sadiq khanreferred to the project as a priority of his, and in December 2024 said that ‘the current stage of development is now nearing completion’. According to TfL’s website, if necessary funding and all approvals can be acquired, the service could be up and running by the early 2030s. Which – if time keeps passing its current alarm rate – will be here faster than you can say ‘mind the gap’.
Read more about TfL’s plans for the West London Orbital here.
